NinjaOne IT Asset Management (ITAM): Lifecycle Management

Topic

Track a device from the point of purchase to the day you decommission it, including its core asset information, custom fields, and related activities.

Environment

NinjaOne ITAM

Description

When you install the NinjaOne agent on a device, NinjaOne uses the system serial number or Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) serial number, organization, and device name to match data to an existing provisioning device. NinjaOne will automatically convert a device between unmanaged and managed states depending on its current status and add an entry to the Activities feed.

Index

Select a topic to learn more:

• Compatibility and Prerequisites
• About Lifecycle States
  • Unmanaged Device Lifecycle
  • Unmanaged Device Lifecycle
  • Managed Device Lifecycle
  • Decommissioned Device Lifecycle
• Track Your Devices
• Configure Settings for the Device
• Decommission a Device in NinjaOne
• Use NinjaOne Billing with Unmanaged and Decommissioned Devices
• Search for Decommissioned Devices in NinjaOne
• Additional Resources

Compatibility and Prerequisites

NinjaOne ITAM supports lifecycle tracking for the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows
• Apple macOS (refer to the following Note)
• Linux

A technician with the System Administrator role in NinjaOne must grant access to this feature to other technicians. Activate the following permissions in their account or role:

• System: Device Administration must be set to Allowed. Technicians with this permission can configure health statuses and custom fields.
• Devices: Decommission Devices can be set to Allowed (optional). Technicians with this permission will be able to decommission devices, including uninstalling agents, stopping monitoring, and hiding devices from default views.

About Lifecycle States

The following sections outline the various device states in NinjaOne and how NinjaOne determines each state.

For the purpose of this article, an entry point sets the device's state, and an exit point explains why the device's state changed.

• Staged: This is a preliminary, unmonitored state that provides only the data necessary to find a match during discovery.
• Decommissioned: This state preserves the device's currently collected data, but the device is not monitored. Decommissioned Network Management System (NMS) devices will contain a list of all nodes that they are responsible for monitoring. Devices moved to a decommissioned state will no longer be monitored by the delegate.

Unmanaged (Staged) Device Lifecycle

• Entry point: Created manually, through API or Discovered Devices, or imported via comma-separated values (CSV).
• Exit point: Decommissioned or deleted.
• Agent behavior: NinjaOne cannot match to a provisioned device and cannot install the remote monitoring and management (RMM) agent.

Unmanaged Device Lifecycle

• Entry point: Created manually, through API or Discovered Devices, or imported via CSV.
• Exit point: Managed, decommissioned, or deleted.
• Agent behavior: NinjaOne installed the agent and matched it to the provisioning device. NinjaOne will uninstall the agent if you delete the device.

Managed Device Lifecycle

• Entry point:
  • You create a device with a managed class type in NinjaOne via one of our existing mechanisms (agent installation, MDM enrollment, NMS or VM monitoring, cloud monitors).
  • NinjaOne matches a provisioning device to a new device with the RMM agent installed, and NinjaOne updates the state to be managed. NinjaOne only supports matching to devices in the following states:
    • Unmanaged (monitorable): staged.
    • Unmanaged (monitorable): end of lifecycle (obsolete).
    • Decommissioned (staged).
    • Managed (if existing deduplication logic does not find a match).
• Exit point: Decommissioned, deleted, or unmanaged.
• Agent behavior:
  • Agents can connect and send data to devices.
  • Installation will trigger a match or create a new device if unable to find the provisioning device.
  • The existing deduplication logic will match this device during reinstallation.

Decommissioned Device Lifecycle

• Entry point: You decommission the node in NinjaOne or mark it as decommissioned in the public API.
• Exit point: You deleted in NinjaOne or via public API, or set to unmanaged.
• Agent behavior: You uninstalled the agent after connecting to a decommissioned device.

Track Your Devices

Before you can track the device in NinjaOne, you must add it. To learn how, refer to NinjaOne IT Asset Management (ITAM): Add an Unmanaged Device in NinjaOne.

Configure Settings for the Device

After you add your unmanaged device to NinjaOne, you can associate the policy, owner, tags, related items, tickets, and other settings to the device. To do so, open the device dashboard and click the Edit button. Use any of the options to add the relevant data or take action on the device.

Decommission a Device in NinjaOne

Decommissioning a device in NinjaOne removes the agent software. No automations will run against the device even though it is still present in the platform.

To decommission a device, open the device dashboard and click Edit. Select Decommission device.

Decommission an MDM Device

To move an MDM device to a decommissioned state, use the following actions based on the operating system (OS):

To learn how to perform these actions, refer to NinjaOne Mobile Device Management (MDM): Unenroll, Erase, or Delete a Device.

Restore a Decommissioned Device

Use the following steps to return a decommissioned device to a pending or approved monitored device.

1. Ensure your device meets the following requirements: 
   • The device already exists as a decommissioned device.
   • The device belongs to the same organization and location.
   • The organization's configured approval settings support recommissioning the device.
   • The recommissioned device can perform the same actions as a normal, approved device.
   • The NinjaOne ITAM feature is activated.
2. Follow the instructions at NinjaOne IT Asset Management (ITAM): Add an Unmanaged Device in NinjaOne.

Use NinjaOne Billing with Unmanaged, Staged, and Decommissioned Devices

You can use NinjaOne Billing with unmanaged, staged, and decommissioned devices. NinjaOne allows the following behavior:

• Exclude staged and decommissioned devices from role selection by default.
• Include staged and decommissioned devices in a selected group if activated in the saved filter.

Unmanaged devices will continue to work as expected and will be included based on role or group selection.

Search for Staged and Decommissioned Devices in NinjaOne

You can use the Devices search page in NinjaOne to find staged and decommissioned devices.

From the Devices search page, click More filters and select Lifecycle State. In the new drop-down menu, select the lifecycle state for the device you want to find.

You can take the following actions on staged and decommissioned devices from the Devices search page:

• Create a ticket.
• Edit the policy, organization, assigned user, tags, or asset status.
• Delete the device.
• Decommission staged devices.

Additional Resources

Refer to NinjaOne ITAM: Resource Catalog to learn more about asset management in NinjaOne.

To learn more about NinjaOne Billing, refer to NinjaOne Billing: Getting Started with Professional Services Automation (PSA).